Raging Romantics

Prepare your ears for some major fangirling. Why? Because we got to talk publishing and romance books with dynamic writing duo Christina Lauren! Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings released their first book, Beautiful Bastard, in 2013, and have been an unstoppable force ever since. In this episode we talk about what traditional publishing looks like in romancelandia today, and what their own experience being bestsellers is like. We also have a brief discussion about traditional publishing as a whole, and touch on some of the issues that persist throughout the publishing world.

Thank you again CLo! You guys were awesome, and everyone needs to go get their mits on Something Wilder (May 17), ASAP!

Books we mention:

• In a Holidaze
• Something Wilder
• The Honey Don't List
• Soulmate Equation
• Merchants of culture : the publishing business in the twenty-first century (Thompson, 2012)

Terms:

• Traditionally published - referring to when a book is published by an established publishing house, with a team of professionals to take care of the book design, sales, marketing, and more.
• Querying - The process by which an author seeks an agent for representation
• Query letter - An authorial cover letter which details the manuscript the author is seeking representation for
• Submitting/On submission - After gaining representation, an agent will place their author out on submission to publishing houses, meaning they are seeking a publisher who will buy the manuscript to publish it
• Agents - A middle man/representor for the author
• On Contract - When an author has signed with a publishing house for multiple books/series
• Synopsis - a short description of the book/manuscript

Websites/journals/articles we read:

• "The Myth of Gatekeepers" (Coffey, 2014)
• "Disregard the Gatekeepers" (Berner, 2019)
• "Querying is a numbers game" (Baldwin, 2017)
• "Traditional Publishing vs. Self Publishing: Pros and Cons" (MasterClass, 2021)
• "How To Publish a Book: An Overview of Traditional & Self-Publishing" (Writersdigest.com, n.d.)

May is Mental Health Awareness month! Since we have a full slate for all of our episodes, our wonderful intern Madi joined Jackie to talk about some of our favorite romance books that look at mental health.

Mental Health Resources:

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)

Suicide Prevention Lifeline

National Institute of Mental Health

Crisis Text Line

We here at Raging Romantics love and support you. If you ever need someone to talk to (even if it's not about books, we're always here for you too. Email us here to talk)

Books we recommend:

• The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
• Also Kiss Quotient and The Bride Test
• Silent Sins by Audrey Carlan (Lotus House series)
• Content warnings: cutting, attempted suicide, anxiety, and depression
• The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves
• Barbarian's Beloved by Ruby Dixon (Arianna's story)

Content warning for brief discussion of sexual assault in fantasy books at 9:24 - 9:56

Thanks again to our awesome intern Madi for joining us with this discussion about Young Adult Romance books! Don't forget to email us at [email protected] by April 30 to be entered in our Ruby Dixon giveaway; let us know your favorite Ice Planet couple/factoid/books/etc.! Winners will be announced on the first full-length episode in May!

*May* the odds be ever in your favor.

Authors from Jackie's rant

• Sarah J Maas
• Silvia Moreno Garcia
• NK Jemisen
• Octavia E. Butler
• George RR Martin
• JRR Tolkien

Enemies to Lovers

• Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin
• The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
• Better than the Movies by Lynn Painter
• A Curse So Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers #1) by Brigid Kemmerer
• The Guinevere Deception (Camelot Rising #1) by Kiersten White
• Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Friends to Lovers

• Shadow and Bone series by Leigh Bardugo
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
• Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell
• Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

Star-Crossed Lovers

• Strange the Dreamer (duology) by Laini Taylor
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone (also) by Laini Taylor
• Like No Other by Una LaMarche
• The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
• These Violent Delights (duology) by Chloe Gong
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
• Shadowhunter Chronicles/ Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

Love Triangles

• The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard
• Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
• Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
• Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

Meet Cute

• The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
• A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland
• A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
• What if it's us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
• When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
• Fangirl and Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• Katie McGarry

Stuck Together

• Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo
• Love and Other Train Wrecks Leah Konen
• Two Way Street by Lauren Bernholdt

Fake Dating

• To All the Boys I've Loved Before (series) by Jenny Han
• Frankly in Love by David Yoon
• Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon
• Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

YOU READ THAT TITLE RIGHT. WE HAVE A GIVEAWAYYYYYY.

What you'll win:

• New edition of Ice Planet Barbarians book 1
• Ice Planet Barbarians Stickers by Bonkyconk*
• Bookmarks

Plus a bonus giveaway! You'll win as a second place prize:

• Ice Planet Barbarians Stickers by Bonkyconk
• Bookmarks

How to enter!

• Follow Ruby on her social media**
• Email us at [email protected] by April 30th, 2022 with your favorite IPB fact/couple/etc.

Good luck! And in the meantime, go take a look at Fireblood Dragon series by Ruby! It's postapocalyptic dragon shifters. What's not to love?!

*(to be clear, the stickers are not NSFW. The account of the artist is! Look up bonkyconk at your own risk)

** (if you don't have socials, that's okay, tell us what you love about Ruby/IPB, or if you've never read her before but really want to, tell us what attracts you most to the series!)

Hey romance nerds, bear with us for the audio on this one. Three voices + two mics does not add up to good math. But please join us in welcoming Madi this month! Madi leads us in a discussion about young adult (YA) romance books. We’ll touch upon the history of Young Adult (YA) fiction and YA romance, as well as the YA “craze” of the 2010’s and why adults continue to read YA fiction!

News on current book bans and book censorship campaigns

Books mentioned:

• Bloody Jack series by L.A. Meyer
• Daughters of the Moon series by Lynne Ewing
• The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
• The Mediator series by Meg Cabot
• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
• Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Heinlein juveniles series by Robert A. Heinlein 
• The Catcher and the Rye by J.D. Salinger 
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle 
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• The Friends by Rosa Guy
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• Bless the Beasts and Children by Glendon Swarthout
• Deathwatch by Robb White
• Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer
• The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
• Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
• Divergent trilogy by ‎Veronica Roth
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green 
• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews 
• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• Midnight Sun by Trish Cook
• Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
• A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
• To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy by Jenny Han
• Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo 
• Grishaverse is also expanded into Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom duology
• The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
• The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

Books being adapted: 

• The Selection by Kiera Cass
• Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
• The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
• Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha series) by Tomi Adeyemi

Articles/websites

• Definition and History of Young Adult fiction
• History of YA Romance
• Why Do Adults Read Young Adult Books? (Hay, 2019)
• All the Young Adult Book-to-Screen Adaptations in the Works Right Now (Epicreads.com, 2019)
• Why the YA dystopia craze finally burned out (Oladele, 2021)
• We Need Diverse Books (diversebooks.org)
• Is YA Leading Diversity in Publishing? (Nuttall, 2021)
• #Publishing Paid Me information

TikTok

·        @The_Asian_Librarian – amplifies Asian authors!

·        @sapphichobbit – recommends primarily Jewish and sapphic fics!

In case you couldn't tell....these two sparkly romance nerds absolutely LOVE retellings in romancelandia. Here's some of our favorites in the collection right now.

Jackie's recs:

• Katee Robert's Dark Olympus series
• Book 1: Neon Gods (Hades/Persephone)
• Book 2: Electric Idol (Eros/Psyche)
• Book 3: Wicked Beauty (Achilles/Patroclus/Helen, available June 7, 2022)
• Also KR's Wicked Villains series
• Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin

Jen's recs:

• Eloisa James Once Upon a Tower

Want more? Email us at [email protected]!

Content warning for discussion of sexual assault in mythology and romance novels at times: 1:00:58 -1:11:36

This is a long one, you sparkly romance nerds. Buckle in! We're diving into Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, Pride & Prejudice, and Hades & Persephone! If you haven't listened to part one, go click #37 for some information on the different categories of retellings. Questions/Comments/Concerns? Don't forget to email us at [email protected]!

Terms:

• Folktale - a fictional story passed down by generations, generally starting as an oral tradition, and with the purpose of relating a moral or life lesson to the listener.
• Tale Type - a self-sufficient narrative
• Motif - the smallest descriptive unit within the narrative. These motifs combined together create the building blocks that lead us up to a narrative
• Myth - a legendary story that usually explains some historical or religious phenomenon
• Literature - in this episode, this refers to fictional writings that serve no larger purpose than just to tell a story
• Trope - a narrative within the larger literary narrative; a path built of motifs that leads to an understood outcome
• The Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification of folktales - abbreviated to ATU, this is a classification system of tale types and motifs. The ATU groups together multiple tales that represent an independent type which has been documented amongst at least three ethnic groups or over a long time period.

Cinderella links

• ATU Tale Types 510: Persecuted Heroine stories
• Tale of Rhodopsis
• Tale of Ye Xian
• Pentamarone by Giambattista Basile "Cenerentola" (1634)
• Histoires ou contes du temps passé by Charles Perrault "Cendrillon; ou la petite pantoufle du verre" (1697)
• Aschenputtel by the Brothers Grimm (1812)
• "The History of Cinderella" (Abilene Public Library)
• Cinderella Across cultures (ed. by de la Rochère, 2016)
• "A Girl, A Shoe, A Prince: The Endlessly Evolving Cinderella"(Holmes for NPR, 2015)
• Retellings
• A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James
• If the Shoe Fits by Julia Murphy
• A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole
• Midnight in the Garden of the Prince by Catherine Keaton
• Rogue Princess by BR Meyers
• The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
• If the Boot Fits by Rebekah Weatherspoon 
• Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare
• One Night with You by Sophie Jordan

Beauty and the Beast links

• ATU tale type 425 A-C: The Search for the Enchanted Lost Husband
• "The Woman Who Married the Snake" from the Panchatantra (1199 CE, possibly as early as 200BCE)
• "Cupid and Psyche" as written by Lucius Apuleius in The Golden Ass (1st and 2nd c. CE)
• La Jeune Americaine et les Contes Marins by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot, Dame de Villeneuve in her work (1740)
• Magasin des enfants by Jean-Marie le Prince de Beaumont (1756)
• “Beauty and the Beast; visions and revisions of an old tale” by Betsy Hearne (1991)
• "Beauty and the Beast, Old And New" (Windling, 2007)
• "Beauty and the Beast" (Pook Press, 2018a)
• "7 Variants of Beauty and the Beast Fairy Tales – A Tale as Old as Time" (Pook Press, 2018b)
• Retellings
• A Curse so Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
• The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare 
• Romancing the Duke ALSO by Tessa Dare
• Entreat Me by Grace Draven
• The Beast by Katee Robert

Pride & Prejudice links

• '"Pride and Prejudice" Jane Austen Society of America
• ""Pride and Prejudice" Remains Timeless and Delightful, More than 200 Years Later" (Rogerson, 2020)
• "Why are we still so passionate about 'Pride & Prejudice'?" (Donahue, 2013)
• Retellings
• The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
• Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
• Pride, Prejudice and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
• Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price
• Pride by Ibi Zoboi
• Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
• The Bennet Women by Eden Appiah-Kubi

Hades & Persephone links

• Homeric Hymn to Demeter
• "The Story of Hades and Persephone: Rape and Romance" (Warner, 2020)
• "Hades and Persephone story" (Athens Beyond, 2021)
• "Persephone: Queen of the Underworld" (Greekmythology.com, 2021)
• "Homer" (Britannica)
• "Homerids" (Britannica)
• "Homerics Hymns 1-3" (Classical Texts Library)
• "Persephone" (wikipedia)
• Makowski, John F. “Persephone, Psyche, and the Mother-Maiden Archetype.” The Classical Outlook, vol. 62, no. 3, American Classical League, 1985, pp. 73–78 (jstor)
• Mylonas, George E. “The Hymn to Demeter.” The Classical Weekly, vol. 38, no. 23, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1945, pp. 180–82 (jstor)
• Parker, Robert. “The ‘Hymn to Demeter’ and the ‘Homeric Hymns.’” Greece & Rome, vol. 38, no. 1, Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 1–17 (jstor)
• Retellings
• Neon Gods by Katee Robert
• Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair
• Lore Olympus (vol.1) by Rachel Smythe
• A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas 
• Promises and Pomegranates by Sav r. Miller
• Kore by Ambrosia R. Harris
• Pestilence by Lauren Thelassa
• The Power of Hades by Eliza Raine
• It Ain’t Me Babe by Tillie COle
• Deal with the Elf King by Elisa Kova
• From Blood and Ash series and book by Jennifer Lynn Armentrout 
• Punderworld by Linda Sejic
• Circe by Madeleine Miller

Other links:

• "The uses and limitations of the Folklorist's toolkit for fiction" (Lemberg, 2015)
• "The Evolution of the Disney Princess Franchise: Catching Up and Moving Forward" (Maier, 2016)
• "Why Romance Will Never Stop Retelling Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast" (Popp, 2021)
• "Legendary Literary Couples Live on in Countless Retellings" (Cybil, 2019)
• da Silva, Sara Graça, and Jamshid J Tehrani. “Comparative phylogenetic analyses uncover the ancient roots of Indo-European folktales.” Royal Society open science vol. 3,1 150645. 20 Jan. 2016,

Other retellings:

• Omegaverse retellings Bleeding Red and Sullied Cinders by DE Chapman
• The Plated Prisoner series by Raven Kennedy (King Midas, but Midas isn't endgame)
• Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan (myth of Chang E)
• A Spindle Splintered by Alix Harrow (Sleeping Beauty)
• Anything by Madeleine Miller, Pat Barker, or Jennifer L Saint!

#sasquatchexists

We finally get to order books for the library again, and we wanted to let you know about some of the fresh new romance books we have at NOPL!

Jen's recommendations:

• The Other Man by Farhad J. Dadyburjor
• Hidden Treasures by Michelle Adams

Jackie's recommendations:

• The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberly
• Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson

Stop by anytime to check them out, or if you want further suggestions, email [email protected]. We’d love to give you more to read! Curious about our book club? Go to our library events and look for Between the Covers. Not in the area? It's available as a Zoom event too! All readers and romance lovers welcome :)

Once upon a time, in a library not so far away, two librarians sat down to talk about retellings in romancelandia. We ask what makes an original tale? What even is a retelling? Join us as we break down some of the different layers of these types of stories!

Did you catch how many times we said the buzzword? Email us at [email protected] with your best guess!

Jackie's proposed retelling schema:

1. Original tales
2. These may not be the very first instance of the tale/trope/motif, but they are often accredited as being the source of inspiration for derivative works
3. Retellings
4. a derivative work where an author takes a classic story, and reworks the characters, plot, setting/situation, in a new way, thus creating a completely new versino of the original
5. Will often claim direct influence from the original tale by keeping the characters names/plot points/other identifiable fixtures
6. Homage
7. A derivative work that shows respect or attests to the worth or influence of another, original work. They may retain the names or the plot arc, or they may not. However they still claim influence from the original story.
8. Rip-off
9. Derivative works that pay no deference to original work. Can go all the way from ignoring their source of inspiration, to straightforward plagiarism where they rip pieces of another story and repackage it for their own monetary gain

Works/authors/books mentioned:

• Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
• Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
• Romeo + Juliet and Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
• Legend of Good Women by Geoffrey Chaucer
• Pyramus + Thisbe by Ovid in Metamorphoses
• Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
• An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn
• Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
• Little Thieves by Margaret Owens
• Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer
• Touch of Darkness/Hades & Persephone series by Scarlett St. Clair
• Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert
• Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• A Court of Thorns and Roses and Crescent City series by Sarah J Maas

Other podcasts listened to:

• S03.27: Retellings in Romance Novels with Kate Clayborn
• Omegaverse episode - #28 Shifting into Werewolf Romance + Omegaverse
• Scandals episode- #30 the Drama with RWA, Omegaverse and Bad Books

Links:

• "A More Inclusive Happy Ending: Romance Novels that Diversify the Classics" (Brown, 2021)
• "Fairy Tale Retellings? Or Fantasy Romances?" (Reddit)
• "What is a Retelling?" (bookseriesrecaps.com)
• "Homage or rip off?" (reddit)
• "Pyramus and Thisbe" (Britannica.com)
• "Disney didn't invent Cinderella. Her story is at least 2,000 years old" (McKinney, 2015)
• "Why We’ll Never Get Tired of Literary Retellings" (Donohue, 2019)
• Why do you think "retellings" are currently so popular, particularly in young adult literature?" (Quora)
• "Why is publishing Plagiarism Still Possible?" (Nuttall, 2022)

Jen and Jackie have a quick discussion on some twitter drama that went down in January involving a male reader trying to break into the romance sphere. As with all twitter drama, his tweet got blown way out of proportion, and romancelandia flocked to the defense of romance heroes everywhere...thereby effectively gatekeeping a sphere that claims to be one of the most welcoming genres out there. Let's get into it.

Tweet in question:

What do you guys think? Have you experienced any gatekeeping in romancelandia? Have you come across people make fun of romance? What are your reactions to this situation? Let us know at [email protected]!

Books we mention:

• Bromance Book Club series by Lyssa Kay Adams